The Assorted Artwork of John DiBiase

Tales from a Blick Store

I thought I was too busy for art stuff before – thanks to work, but with a baby in the mix? Forget about it…

I reconnected with an old high school buddy on Monday and grabbed lunch at a hibachi place that served as a midway point between our locales. Incidentally, right next door to the hibachi place is a Blick art supplies store that I hadn’t visited in many years. In fact, it’s been a couple years since I’ve been to ANY genuine art store.

After my friend and I parted ways, I walked into Blick with the intentions of just perusing the shelves within. Even before I learned to draw, I LOVED stationary stores. Why? I’m not sure why, but perhaps it was just that part of my future was beginning to rise to the surface.

It felt like a mixture of being back at home while also that bittersweet, disjointed feeling you get when you first return to your former school after graduating and realize you just don’t belong there anymore. However, unlike high school, I WANT to return to my art roots.

As I walked through the aisles, it was a gorgeous sight to see all varieties of brand new pencils, drawing pens, colored pencils… Erasers! Drawing-enhancing gizmos! …. And a leather-bound pencil pouch?! New paper pads! I didn’t want to leave.

As I stood and ogled the brand new drawing pencils, and soon circled the displays and various styles of art tools and equipment, I could feel the creativity in the room. The woman behind the framing counter knew her patron and a sophisticated and confident looking lady, dressed as you would expect any woman who probably owns as many easels as she does purebred felines might, carried herself as if she owned stock in Blick. For a moment, I was a kid in college again. What supplies did I need for Mr. Lester’s lesson in design and space? …oh, right… Every moment I was “wasting” here meant a minute not getting real work done.

I grabbed a couple pencils that I didn’t really need, some pads that also weren’t required and that fancy shmancy pencil pouch, purchased them, and exited. It was this half exciting, half depressing feeling that although my art years seem to be a distant memory, I can still find time to be creative again…. And I pray to God I can!